My Attempt at Fusili de State - Avacado Cream Sauce with Shrimp Pasta

Fusili de State is a dish I often get at one of my favourite pasta joints - Anton's.  It's a creamy avacado sauce topped with shrimp on fusili pasta, and although it will probably shorten your life expectancy, it's really, really good.  The menu states that it's not always available, but all the times I've ordered it, I've been happy.  My attempt didn't get it exactly right, it came out pretty close I think.  

I started off my crushing some garlic....why am I using this?  I have a huge jug of chopped garlic that I got at Costco and it's taking me forever to get through it.  But it's not crushed finely enough for me so I decided to do it this way.

The menu says they used an entire avacado per dish....I love avacados.  Make sure it's really ripe so that when you crush it, it basically turns to cream. 

This was actually the second time I made this, however the avacado I used for this picture wasn't as ripe as it should have been.  As a result, I ended up with a couple of chucks of avacado that didn't crush easily.

I found a recipe for avacado cream sauce that says use a 1/4 cup of butter.....okay!

I added onions to the recipe, even though I don't think Anton's uses any onions....just my personal thing.  Try it without first, and see if it's better.

So, once the butter's nice and melted and the crushed garlic is infused in the butter, pour in 1/2 cup of fresh creme, or whipping cream.  When it comes to a simmer, add your avacado.

It doesn't look so smooth in this picture because of the onions and because the avacado I used wasn't quite ripe enough, but if you do it right, you get a smooth, rich and creamy avacado sauce.

I used fusili just like Anton's but I suppose you could swap it out for just about any pasta.

I added in the shrimp afterwards because I didn't want to overcook the shrimp. 

I tasted it first without the shrimp, then again after, and the shrimp really changes the flavour of the dish.  I mean, it's pretty damn good without, but add some shrimp, and you really have an amazing dish.  Sprinkle some freshly grated parmesan cheese and you've got home-made Anton's.

Red Tuna Sushi and Noodle Cafe

Hi everyone, long time no post.  I've been all kinds of busy lately, with classes, with work, with trying to get my car back on the road and almost no time (haha, and no money!) to go out to eat so nothing really exciting to post in the last few weeks.    I did manage to get out to this one little place last week called Red Tuna.  I had a buddy from out of town come in and I wanted to take him someplace he probably would never experience in Whitehorse - Sushi King, but they were just closing up.  It was kind of late and our options were limited, we twiddled our thumbs for a bit, then looked across the street to see Red Tuna's 'Open' sign lit up so we ran across the street and popped in. 

 Sushi King is kind of a regular hang out for my iaido group after class on Friday nights.  My sensei is Japanese but he has no qualms about eating at a place that's not "authentic".  As long as it tastes good, he doesn't care.  He'd been to Red Tuna a couple of times when Sushi King was full, and he told me that Red Tuna wasn't that bad.  My buddy and I figured why not? 

 The place was empty and obviously preparing to close but the staff were very friendly and greeted us with a welcoming smile and invited us in. 

 My friend ordered a bento box that came with a couple of nigiri sushi, California rolls, and some teriyaki beef on rice.  The negi sprinkled on the beef was a nice touch. 

My buddy Mike from Whitehorse.  We met during a two week training course in Regina back in February.  The selection for sushi in Regina was limited, and according to my buddy, options aren't so plentiful  in Whitehorse either.

I got a varitety of nigiri sushi and my current favourite roll - spicy tuna roll.  It was actually quite good, the rice wasn't packed on, wasn't overly spicy, with some chili mayo drizzle on it (reminded me of Tokyo Joe's spicy tuna roll).  I ordered two peices of toro which was very fresh, nice and fat, just the way I like it.  It didn't taste greasy or anything, just good fat (haha, if there is such a thing!).  The ikura was very fresh, each one popped as if it was fresh out of a salmon, nice portions.  The saba was of a different variety.  It was very lean, and the taste was slightly different than I was used to.  It was still good though, just different.  I also ordered amaebi which was not the tiny slivers of shrimp that many other restaurants serve.  This was more like botan ebi, which our server told us usually comes with the heads deep-fried.  My latest thing is to have the heads not deep-fried, but served raw.  The miso in the heads is kind of my latest favourite at sushi restaurants.  For those that aren't familiar with sushi, this may sound really gross.  For those that know, it's similar to kani miso, another delicacy not often found in North American sushi restaurants.

Red Tuna's prices are decent for what you get, the service was very, very friendly and the sushi was pretty damn good.  Would I go back?  Definitely.  And next time, I will go back with something more than my crappy phone camera.

Sweet Revenge Patisserie

Death By Chocolate, True Confections, Cheesecake Etc, and other such dessert places are just right for North American tastes, but when I go with some of my Japanese friends, they often remark on how many of the cakes and deserts are too rich, or over the top sweet.  I guess for me, I live in both worlds and I actaully like the cakes from True Confections.  I can only eat a sliver without feeling kind of gross.  I've also had deserts in Japan, I've been to some of the cafes and cake shops, and the styles there definitely have a French influence.  For anyone looking for something naughty but won't leave you in a food coma, Sweet Revenge Patisserie will be right up your alley. 

First of all, the place is damn near impossible to find unless you've looked it up on a map first.  The store front is so discreet, it's almost as if it doesn't want to be found.........

...............yet when we got there, a steady flow of patrons were coming and going. 

The place seems very fragile, and I felt like I was in an antique shop, rather than a dessert place. 

I ordered an Earl Grey, hot, just like Captain Picard.

The china was all made in Japan for some reason....

The Creme Brulee - $6.55

Chocolate Pudding Cake for $6.35.  It was like a chocolate lava cake, filled with dark chocolate pudding.

The place is small, there was only one server, and sometimes you have to share a table.  But it's a nice place if you want to just sit for a while, have some tea and some sweets to go with it.  The staff will more or less leave you alone, haha, whether you want them to or not.  But that can be a good thing as well, if you don't want your waiter or waitress pestering you to order more stuff, or to pay the bill and get out.  It's a nice little shop, and I'd probably go back.

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

You go to Joe Fortes not for the food, not for the decor, or the spectacular service, but for the experience.  The experience of being pampered, of being treated like royalty.  Sure, some of it may seem a little canned, but still, it's an experience like no other restaurant I've been to (so far.....)

I've been here before, a very long time ago, but I lost all the pictures and wasn't able to do a review.  The place is amazing.  We were seated on the 3rd level, overlooking the rest of the restaurant, and had a view of the beautiful entrance, and the pianist.  The jazz being played live reminded me of the The Rooftop in Regina.

Chivas Regal, 12 yrs, the perfect friend to any slab of beef.

The bread was really good, and they kept on refilling it....I probably should have controlled myself but the the salmon oil/vinigrette (below) was so good, I couldn't resist.

Haha, I was reading Elaine's (Oh My Sweet Tooth) post on this, she wants her butter!  Actually, I really liked the salmon-based olive oil with the balsamic vingrette reduction, but butter would have been good too. 

I'm sorry to say, but the chickpeas in this salad tasted like B.O.  Hey, I never said the place was perfect, but not a big deal, just don't order this unless you like eating B.O.

I had half a dozen oysters.  Joe's Gold Reid Island was the selection of the night for me.  The cocktail sauce tasted like ketchup, but the horseradish was out of this world when used in combination with the sauce, a squirt of lemon and the oysters.  I wanted to eat more, but I didn't want to spoil my appettite too badly.

Joe's Classic Cioppino was a nice mix of seafood served in a creamy tomato sauce.  For $33.95, this wasn't my cup of tea.  But then, I'm not really a light eater.  My meal was worth every penny. 

My Ribeye Steak, 16 oz, Dry Aged Canadian Prime was invented by God, specifically for me (this, and Keg's Prime Rib, haha!).  It was large, just the way I like it, it had a nice ratio of fat to lean, just the way I like it, and it was seasoned to perfection.  I ordered it fat and bloody, but it came medium.  Despite this, it still tasted like heaven with every single bite.  I really, really wanted to eat the grisle and knaw on the bone for a bit, but it wasn't the time nor place for that sort of behavior.

Joe Fortes isn't a restaurant, it's an indulgence.  I wouldn't want to go here too often because it would spoil me rotten.  The services, well, our server in particular, was incredible.  He was truly a professional, and he knew his job well.  He catered to our every need, was friendly, but not overly familiar, he made suggestions that made sense instead of just trying to sell the everything under the sun to us, and most importantly, he made us feel like we belonged there. 

The food for the most part was of very high quality, the presentation was as expected - beautiful.  I still have yet to experience a chop house like Keen's, haha, where the veg is supposed to look unappetizing.  But the veg at Joe Fortes was actually quite tasty, even though they momentarily discracted me from the main objective - the meat.

Do you remember that scene in The Matrix where Cypher is in that fancy restaurant, eating that inredibly tasty looking steak?  That's Joe Fortes in a nutshell.  Save this one for special occasions.

Golden Sea City Restaurant

This place has changed names so many times, I've lost count, but somehow, the food still magages to taste ok, it's still relatively inexpensive, and they still have dim-sum carts!  The service is as you would expect at any grease spoon of this calibre, so don't go in expecting much and you won't be disappointed....it's not fine dining.  The restaurant itself is getting a little run-down though, and renovations and cleanliness aren't a priority in these kinds of places.

The current owners aren't big on replacing the table cloths......clearly, they're still using hand-me-down stuff from previous owners.

Taking care of any moisture problems, water leaks, mold isn't a priority here.......I didn't even bother with the washrooms because if the dining area looked this bad.....

I wonder how legal this is for a fire exit?

Steamed spareribs and Chinese sausage on rice.  Tasty for anyone hungry enough to order something with rice at dim sum

Even though this rice noodle with fish was the last dish on the cart, we were hungry and ordered it anyway.  If it wasn't cold, it probably would have tasted really good.  The noodles were tender, and the fish inside was cooked just right.

The Siu Mai were a decent size, nothing to complain about here.  Nice large chunks of pork and shrimp. 

Haha, my dad said they used 1 less prawn than before in the Hagow.  To me they seemed a bit smallish compared to the hagow under the previous ownership, but they still tasted good.

My favourite dim sum dish - steamed spare ribs with a couple of black beans thrown in for good measure.  Lining the bottom of the dish was butternut squash, which helps soak up all that glorious fat from the pork.  I did something completely disgusting and took the sauce (aka fat with flavour) and poured it over my left-over rice from earlier....sounds gross, I know, but tastes like heaven.

Chicken feet!  For those with squeamish stomachs, skip ahead.  These were done well, skin and what little meat slip right off the bone.  Pop the whole thing in your mouth and spit out the bones.

Sticky Rice Wraps....these tasted ok, but not great.  Actually, they were a bit bland and didn't have much "stuff" inside...

Still edible though.  All it needed was a little chili oil.

I've been coming to this place for a couple of years, and although the name of the restaurant and owners may change, it seems like nothing else really does.  The servers (and probably kitchen staff), the food, the decor, the prices, the lack of parking, are all pretty much the same.  The restaurant could use some renos, and maybe some better house-keeping standards, but that's about it.  Everything is cooked, so just as long as your food is hot, you should be safe, haha!  Despite the place being sort of a dive, I still go back once in a while.